Press Release: 39 out of 70 (49%) candidates in the 1st list for Lok Sabha, 2014 had declared criminal cases in their past affidavits.

Press Release: 39 out of 70 (49%) candidates in the 1st list for Lok Sabha, 2014 had declared criminal cases in their past affidavits.

Some political parties announced their first list of candidates for Lok Sabha, 2014 recently. A total of 203 candidates were announced by various political parties as on 2nd March, 2014. Out of these 70 candidates had contested assembly or Lok Sabha/Rajya Sabha elections in the past. Association for Democratic Reforms and National Election Watch checked the records of these 70 candidates through the affidavits submitted by them during previous elections. The latest information regarding assets as well as criminal charges if any, would be available once the candidates file their affidavits for 2014 Lok Sabha Elections. Detailed report in English attached with the mail.

Criminal:

Candidates with Criminal Cases: Out of 70 candidates analysed, 34 candidates (49%) had declared in total 224 criminal cases against themselves in their previous election affidavit. Shiv Sena has 12 out of 14 candidates (86%) with criminal cases, BJP has 13 out of 32 (41%) candidates with criminal cases, NCP has 8 out of 13 (62%) candidates with criminal cases and AIADMK has 1 out of 6 (17%) candidates with criminal cases.

Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: 20 candidates (29%) out of 70 analysed had declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their previous election affidavits. 7 out of 14 (50%) candidates of Shiv Sena have declared serious criminal cases against themselves, 5 out of 13 (38%) candidates of NCP, 7 out of 32 (22%) candidates of BJP and 1 out of 6 (17%) candidates of AIADMK have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

Candidates with Cases of Murder and related: 4 candidates had declared cases of murder, attempt to murder and related in their previous election affidavits. Bhonsle Shrimant Chh. Udyanraje Pratapsinh (Sitting MP) of NCP from Satara Constituency had declared a charge of murder. Two candidates of Shiv Sena, Eknath Shinde (Sitting MLA, Maharashtra) from Kalyan Constituency and Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil (Sitting MP) from Shirur Constituency had declared a charge of Attempt to Murder. Dhananjay Mahadik of NCP from Kolhapur Constituency had declared a charge related to culpable homicide by causing death of person other than person whose death was intended.

Candidate with cases of Dacoity: Dr. Kirit Somaiya of BJP from Mumbai North East Constituency had declared a charge of dacoity against himself.

Candidates with cases of Kidnapping and related: 3 candidates had declared cases related to kidnapping in their previous election affidavits. Bhonsle Shrimant Chh. Udyanraje Pratapsinh (Sitting MP) of NCP from Satara Constituency and Gopinath Munde of BJP from Beed Constituency declared a case related to kidnapping. Chandrakant Khaire (Sitting MP) of Shiv Sena from Aurangabad Constituency declared a case related to wrongful confinement.

Candidates with cases related to electoral violations: Sanjay Jadhav (Sitting MLA) of Shiv Sena from Parbhani Constituency had declared 2 charges related to Illegal payments in connection with an election and 1 charge related to failure to keep election accounts in his previous election affidavit.

Financial:

Average Assets of Candidates: The average assets of 70 candidates analysed is Rs. 5.76 crores.

Party-wise average assets: The average assets of 13 NCP candidates is Rs. 17.10 crores followed by 5 candidates of SAD with average assets of Rs. 16.30 crores, 14 candidates of Shiv Sena with average assets of Rs 2.16 crores, 32 candidates of BJP with average assets of Rs. 1.81 crores and 6 candidates of AIADMK with average assets of Rs. 1.89 crores.

No. of crorepati candidates: Out of 70 candidates, 36 candidates (51%) have declared total assets (Self assets +Others Assets) of more than 1 crore.

Party-wise crorepati candidates: 4 out of 5 candidates (80%) in SAD followed by 9 out of 13 (69%) candidates in NCP, 9 out of 14 (64%) candidates in Shiv Sena, 13 out of 32 (41%) candidates in BJP and 1 out of 6 (17%) candidates in AIADMK have declared total assets worth more than 1 crore.

High Asset Candidates: Praful Patel (Sitting MP) of NCP from Bhandara-Gondiya Constituency has declared the highest assets among the 70 candidates analysed, worth Rs. 125.46 crores followed by Harsimrat Kaur Badal (Sitting MP) of SAD from Bathinda Constituency with assets worth Rs. 60.31 crores and Supriya Sule (Sitting MP) of NCP from Baramati constituency with assets worth Rs. 50.45 crores.

Analysis of Criminal and Financial Background of Re-contesting MPs

Re-contesting MPs: Out of the 70 candidates analysed, 29 candidates are sitting Lok Sabha MPs.

Re-contesting MPs with Criminal Cases: Out of 29 re-contesting Lok Sabha MPs, 18 (62%) had declared criminal cases against themselves in their previous election affidavit.

Re-contesting MPs with Serious Criminal Cases: Out of 29 re-contesting Lok Sabha MPs, 10 (34%) had declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

Average Assets of Re-contesting MPs: The average assets of 29 re-contesting MPs is Rs. 10.99 crores.

No. of crorepati Re-contesting MPs: Out of 29 re-contesting MPs, 18 (62%) had declared assets worth more than 1 crore in their previous election affidavits.

Recommendations:

The current analysis of the candidates fielded by some of the political parties in their 1st list shows that political parties continue to give tickets to candidates with serious criminal cases. The Association for Democratic Reforms recommends that political parties should refrain from giving tickets to candidates with a serious criminal background. The political parties should take a stand against misuse of money power, bribing of voters and distribution of freebies. Further, the political parties should move towards transparency and disclose the criteria for selection of candidates during elections.

-- Association for Democratic Reforms

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